NEW STEPHEN KING STORIES FOUND

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NEW STEPHEN KING STORIES FOUND

At the launch today of the 'The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King' by Rocky Wood, David Rawsthorne and Norma Blackburn, a 5110 page book published on CD-ROM, it was revealed that ten previously unknown stories by best-selling writer Stephen King have been discovered.

These stories were hidden in the archives of his alma mater, the University of Maine at Orono, where Mr King has lodged many of his papers at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond Fogler Library over the years. Today, 74 boxes of manuscripts, papers, proofs and other material are available to researchers, although some boxes have restricted access, requiring written permission from Mr King.

'We were delighted and amazed to discover these new stories while researching our Guide', co-author, Rocky Wood said at the launch. Full details of each story have been included in the CD-ROM.

'It is well known that there are over a dozen unpublished King short stories, screenplay and novels,' said Mr Wood, who travelled from Australia to Orono, Maine late last year to read many of those works, which are only available at the Library. He spent several weeks combing every item in each box.

'I felt like an archaeologist discovering a hidden tomb when I came across the first unknown story,' Mr Wood said. A number of other manuscripts were found and researched with the assistance of Mr King's office but were shown not to be his work. 'It was really like being a private investigator combing through the boxes then hours of research to ensure the credentials of each work'.

Completed works are 'Mobius', a 3600 word complete Science Fiction story and 'They Bite' is a 116 page Screenplay in an Alien/Science Fiction style and appears to have been written about 1976.

Incomplete, are a selection of works including the longest story, untitled by Mr King but given the name 'The Huffman Story' by the Guide's authors. 'There are 71 well developed pages in this story, which is eerily reminiscent of the murders in 'The Dead Zone' and of King's mythical town, Castle Rock, Maine,' Wood said. 'King's trademark of characters the reader is immediately interested in is very apparent in this piece.' Another unfinished piece, 'Comb Dump' is a mystery story set in a Maine psychiatric hospital.

Stephen King is famous for his journals where he writes thoughts and stories, some containing up to ten different pieces of work. Four of the incomplete stories were found in King's handwriting in such a journal. 'Strangely, this was the very last box I checked and there they were, four more gems', Mr Wood commented. Using King's titles in the journal they have been dubbed 'Muffe', 'The Evaluation', 'Movie Show' and 'Chip Coombs'. 'It is stunning to observe how clean and clear King's writing is in his first handwritten draft,' Mr Wood said.

The two other partial stories were started with King's sons, Owen and Joseph. 'But Only the Darkness Loves Me' is headed 'by Stephen and Joseph King'. 'I Hate Mondays' is headed, 'by Stephen and Owen King'.

'The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King' is available on-line at www.horrorking.com for US$49.95. It is the result of three years' work by the three King experts and is expected to set a standard as the key King reference work for many years to come. Full details about the Guide are available at the site.

Thanks to Rocky

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